Personal profile

Research profile

Eline Sijbesma is a PhD student in the Chemical Biology research group of professor Luc Brunsveld. Her current research focusses on the exploration of fragment-based drug discovery to identify small molecule stabilizers, that act as 'molecular glues' enhancing interactions between proteins. This approach is inspired by nature - which makes extensive use of the stabilization of protein complexes - and aims to provide new modalities to expand the druggable proteome, address therapeutic resistance and tackle challenging diseases.

Quote

Interactions between proteins are at the core of all biological processes yet inherently challenging drug targets. This inspires us to employ unexplored approaches at the forefronts of drug discovery.

Academic background

Eline Sijbesma first joined the Chemical Biology group as an undergraduate student. During her MSc graduation project she worked on elucidating the binding mode of natural compound Estrogen Receptor modulators. Part of this research was performed in the group of dr. Wilbert Zwart at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI-AVL). She then joined the Small Molecule Discovery Center (SMDC) in the group of prof. Michelle Arkin, PhD at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) where she initiated a fragment-based drug discovery project that explores protein-protein interactions as novel drug targets. For this research internship she was awarded a travel grant from the Nora Baart Foundation (NVBMB) and a Scholarship by the Dr Hendrik Muller’s Fund. Eline obtained her Master of Science degree cum laude in 2015 and started her PhD under supervision of prof. dr. ir. Luc Brunsveld and dr. Christian Ottmann.

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